The team went into this game looking for a positive result and performance after a below-par showing the last time. 

We immediately started on the front foot, with our front 3 causing havoc in the Merton back line with their purposeful and intense pressure. In the game's third minute, we won a corner, which Isaac expertly delivered and met by a bullet header from Elijah, which nestled into the top left corner, giving us a deserved 1-0 lead. After this, we continued to pile on the pressure but couldn't find a way past the Merton GK, who was excellent throughout and kept the score down to as little as it was; if it wasn't for him, we would have scored a lot more. In the 11th minute, Merton broke away on the counter-attack, and their striker unleashed a shot which was met by a superb full-diving save from Bobby to keep the score at 1-0. Soon after this, we won another corner, which Jack fired in at the near post and deflected in off the opposition to make the score 2-0 to us heading into halftime.

The break allowed us to talk about a few things to ensure the victory through the second half. We realised that their biggest threat was the goalie playing a long ball through to their number 6, and if we could nullify that, we would be sure to keep a clean sheet. I set the boys to score three goals and keep a clean sheet for the second half.

We soon took this plan into action and began to run away with the game in the third quarter; in the 27th minute, Elijah took a shot that Merton well blocked, but the ball fell to George, who cooly tucked the ball home to make it 3-0. Straight after, Jack was the most alert to latch onto another rebounded shot, and he showed good composure to slot the ball away to make it 4-0. Merton had a few chances to get forward but was denied all game by our organised defensive line, leaving Bobby with very little to do in our goal. In the 33rd minute, Isaac scored our goal of the match by unleashing a thunderous strike which found the top right-hand corner of the Merton goal, giving the GK no chance. We rounded off our scoring in the last minute through Elijah to make the final score 6-0, giving us our first win of the year. 

The boys were superb today; we took our chances, defended superbly and worked our socks off to make this a fantastic win!

Team: Bobby, Mikey, Leonardo, Jensen, Isaac, Elijah, Jack, George, Shyam, Seth